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Comment by jimcsharp | Hacker News Reader

I thought almost everyone in the UK already paid for BBC.

Hacker news isn't Reddit and I'm acting entirely too silly.

Your election isn't going to be threatened because you pay for a TV license and neither is your religious family going to disown you.

The TV license is also moronic but for different reasons and is probably why there is a growing movement to scrap it.

The parent comment was a joke:

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=BBC

Went over my head.

The difference is that your BBC viewing habits, if exposed in a massive hack, are (probably) not that much use to a blackmailer.

I'd rather burn the money than buy a tv license

My family has being hounded by BBC goons in the past for ceasing to pay for the TV license. They even had the "TV detector van" come out and hang around their home before a women hired by them try to forcefully gain entry by pushing past them at the door.

It's an entirely optional license fee and those who don't own a TV are not required to pay for it. They employ scare tactics and harass people into paying up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_detector_van

Also fish licenses and dog licenses with the word 'dog' crossed out and 'cat' written in crayon, from the man from the cat detector van!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t3B-ssC5j0

The Young Ones got busted by a TV detector van:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn1Y7nhB16U

I forgot quite how funny the Young Ones is. Thanks for the reminder.

Rick is a timeless character.

And even if you do have a TV, if you're not watching any live channels (or on-demand video from BBC iPlayer) a licence is not required.

That's terrible that they tried to force their way in, if you feel up to registering a complaint please consider doing so.

There was a hn thread recently about detector vans[0] for those interested in a discussion on this.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20646743

I thought posters were joking. That is absurd

Amazing what they can get away with

Reply on news.ycombinator.com